


CODEX

by Cana_banana



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: Fluff, For the most part, Gender-Neutral Runner Five, POV Second Person, second person writing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-05
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-07-21 18:34:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7398799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cana_banana/pseuds/Cana_banana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The codex in the game app has some items that tell stories of their own. These are just some suggestions to the stories behind them!<br/>[Individual spoiler warnings for the individual chapters if there are any - Mostly just fluff and the people of Abel having some fun times for once! Because in the recent light of season 5, we all need it! And if you're not caught up, hell, you're a ZR player. You probably need it anyways!]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Saucepan

[Contains no spoilers, takes place in Season 1! Feat. Jody being a cutie, kids, plastic spoons and Simon being an ass, as he is :'D Enjoy!

Dedicated to my darling friend Trine, who as one of the few of my buds actually play the game with me and listens to my relentless talks about it <3]

 

 

Saucepan

 

_Janine managed to keep her kitchen well-stocked with saucepans, but this will definitely come in handy as a pretend astronauts helmet for the kids of Abel. With the world in ruins, they dream of escaping into space. Not a bad idea, actually. Shame there are no rocket scientists in the Township._

 

 

“ _That should do, Five, just stuff whatever you can take into your backpack. Oh man, we’ll be having a feast tonight!_ ”

Well, a feast was so much said, but given the circumstances, spam, canned beans and pasta packets could offer quite the meal. Jody even managed to find some, albeit very dry, bread that miraculously had not grown mold and you really weren’t interested in what chemicals had been added for that to be avoided.

You push another can of old meat into your backpack and it’s near cracking, so you decide to zip it up. These stocks of food has been hidden from you until now and even if it hadn’t, it would have been impossible to get to – But some of the other runners discovered it by chance and after a larger operations of distractions and interference, you and Runner 4 managed to get inside to hurriedly take everything you can.

Sam is on the other end of the comms and is chattering like the chatterbox he is, which is reassuring, because as long as he does that, there’s no immediate danger.

“I dunno ‘bout you, Five, but I barely have any space left.” Jody looks at you and holds up her own battered backpack, which is just as stuffed as yours. You’ve raided most of the place, but there are still some useful things left, or at least things that _might_ be useful. It’s not certain when you’ll get in here again, if ever, so you have to take _everything._ Janine’s orders. And you don’t go up against Janine willingly.

“ _Well, maybe that’s just a sign from above, then – The guys running interference are starting to turn back. There’s a group of zoms to the north, not too close, but heading towards you. If you have all you can get, might as well get out before it becomes a close call._ ” He instructs you. Janine is talking in the background, probably instructing the other runners on which directions to go to keep then away from you.

“Got it, Sam. Five and I will just have a last look around to make sure we’re not missing anything good.” Jody answers and you nod in agreement with her and starts looking through the ironically cramped storage building.

“Oh, look! There’s a wok here!” Jody suddenly beams at you and heaves it up with a groan – it causes you to raise a brow because she’s struggling to keep it in the air to show it to you and mind you, that’s going to have to be carried back to Abel by hand. She seems to get the hint and rolls her eyes. “I know, I know. I just miss Chinese food. I bet Sam does too.”

“You can make Chinese food in an ordinary pan.” You retort with a shrug, “Rather than the pans, I think we’re missing the fresh veggies.”

The other runner agrees with a hum and continues digging among the utensils. “Are we stocked up on pans and pots?” She asks, maybe you, maybe Sam, but neither respond. You shrug, and Sam must be talking to Janine or just not paying attention.

“No clue. But we can carry that – it’s not too heavy.” You walk to her and take the saucepan, feeling the weight and determining that sure you can. Jody meanwhile lifts up a small box filled with plastic spoons. “I mean not the best for the environment, but it’s the apocalypse. We can use these—“

“ _Runner 4, Runner 5, why have you not left the building yet!?_ ” A shrill voice in your ear startles both of you and you jump a little.

“Hi Janine.”

“ _Mr. Yao, Runners 3, 6 and 7 have almost doubled back entirely! I thought I told you to get them out!”_

Sam probably looks incredibly startled, you can almost hear the tension in the comms room through the headsets, but he doesn’t have time to respond before Janine proceeds to order you out.

So if you and Jody had been in doubt on whether to be bringing that saucepan and the plastic spoons, you don’t have a choice now, because you are already out of the building before you ask if you should, or just drop them.

 

Turned out that Janine was just being a bit dramatic. Not the other runners, nor the zombies, were _that_ close and it wasn’t really a hassle to get out.

“ _So, what did you get?_ ” Janine asks and you grit your teeth at that one can which stabs you in the back at every step. “Lots and lots of canned food.” You answer her and Jody gives her input, “Spam, spaghetti and plastic spoons!”

“ _Sounds like an awful board game from the 60ies. Or a really weird nursery rhyme._ ” Sam points out and you snicker, exchanging a look with Four as you round a set of trees and catch sight of the gates ahead of you.

“ _Raise the gates!_ ”

 

You (almost literally) run into Simon and Evan as you draw up. Maggie is a little further behind you, but on her way, you are told.

“You better have some good stuff with you! That was quite the run for the rest of us!” Simon winks at you and Evan smiles vaguely, to which both you and Jody smiles back. “From the looks of your backpacks, you did. Good job.”

As Head of Runners, Evan’s compliments on a job well done is aligned with Janine’s, because those two are pretty important around and have experience. Of course Sam and Maxine’s are valued but they give them out a little more liberally.

Evan gives a small wave as he heads off to do a report or whatever he does when not running, while Simon hangs around, waiting for Janine to come and indulge you on what to do with the supplies next – They’re stocked differently, depending on what it is. And it’s getting late, so some of it might be used for dinner immediately.

She comes down a few minutes later while Sam is guiding Maggie back. “Good.” Is all she comments when she comes down and sees that a) your backpacks are stuffed to the brim and b) none of you have turned grey. “Come along, Four, Five. Simon, you can head off to rest break.”

“Alrighty – See you guys for a good dinner later!” He grins, his signature grin that would probably make girls swoon if this was a high-school movie scene, and saunters off to stretch out.

You, Janine and Jody head towards the kitchens to stock your gatherings appropriately. Janine handles the food for the night while you and Jody store the rest.

“Oh, Janine,” You remember that you are holding the saucepan and walk over to her, “where should I hang this?”

“A saucepan?” Janine frowns at you before pointedly gesturing to the _very_ many pans and pots hanging to the right of you. “If there is one thing we actually have enough of in this township, it’s saucepans! I thought you knew that!”

“Jody found it!”

“Oi! It was _you_ who said we should bring it, Five!”

Janine shakes her head and you grin crookedly while Jody sheepishly returns to stock the canned food. “We don’t have space for it in here and we don’t need it. Maybe they can use it in the Tequila Shack.” She says indifferently and dismisses you with a handwave.

 The Tequila Shack? You doubt it. But you might as well go ask them later.

You help Jody with the last stacking of the food, although the saucepan keeps getting in your way – you hit it against either things or step on it, making you cuss quietly under your breath. Jody laughs at you, making your mouth draw downwards. “Alright then.” You ‘bitterly’ hum to yourself as you remove the cap of the saucepan and flip it upside down, smacking it onto the top of Jody’s head.

“Ow!”

Now it’s your turn to laugh as the saucepan hangs crookedly on the runners head like a hat.

A silver, shiny, awful hat.

“Five!” Jody whiles, glaring at you – But she isn’t the angry type and that look doesn’t last for very long before it dissolves into a smile at your laughter. “Does it suit me?” She asks you instead and you nod seriously.

“It’s a strong look. I think you should keep it.”

“Might protect me from zoms.” She leans in and whispers to you, “or Janine.”

“Yes, Miss Marsh?” You both immediately tighten you lips to not laugh and continue your very serious stacking job.

 

You get through it without getting killed, thankfully. By the time you are dismissed, Jody is still wearing the saucepan on her head. “Janine told me to take it to the Tequila Shack.” Jody looks confused and you respond with an exaggerated shrug because you honestly have no idea either, you just went with it.

You decide to head off to the Shack together, quietly talking about this and that and eventually ignoring the pan-hat, more or less forgetting about its presence.

 

“Are you from space?”

You look down at a sudden small voice right by your feet and draw a grimace, taking a stuttering step backwards to avoid knocking the figure down.

“What?”

“Are you from space?” The child, a young boy, repeats the question as if there is nothing weird about it whatsoever. It makes Jody look at him, puzzled. “No, I’m a runner. Runner 4.” She smiles kindly and crouches down to be eye-level with him. You watch in silence meanwhile.

The penny suddenly drops for why he thinks she’s from space as the small hand reaches up to poke the saucepan. “But it looks like a space-man helmet!” You feel a grin spread across your face unwillingly.

“Yes, she is!” You interrupt quickly before Jody can and she looks up at you in confusion. “How impressive that you can tell. She calls herself Runner 4, but that’s only here on Earth. Our space names are, uh.. Apollo 4 and Apollo 5!” You assume that the kid hasn’t heard about the Apollo flights from before day 0 yet, so you roll with your own creative suggestion.

It wasn’t that children had necessarily always been your thing, you weren’t really that entertainer type. But whether you liked children or not, whether anyone did, it was impossible to ignore how bleak the world was for children these days. Everything was so dangerous and different now, every game came with precautions of a kind that hadn’t been necessary before the apocalypse. They didn’t learn about Africa and the tectonic plates, not about literature or art as much as they learnt about zombie survival from a young age.

So any bit of fun that could be had, would be had. And as runners, you often brought back the best stories and the children admired you. So no matter your attitude towards children, whether that had changed or not or was good or bad, you _always_ played along with their games to at least attempt giving them some good childhood memories.

Speaking of which, the boy is looking between you and Jody now with wide, curious eyes. “Really?”

Jody seem to recover from the element of surprise in her new ‘identity’ and nod vigorously. “Uh, yes! Me and… Apollo 5 just came back from another secret mission!” She wiggles her fingers as to give a mysterious effect and by now, some of the other children from the playground has gotten curious and start to watch and move closer.

So you and Jody proceeded to come up with some far-out, ridiculous tale about your travel from the planet ‘Newi Cantoni’ (which, arguably, sounded a bit like some sort of Italian cuisine but no one noticed the odd in that name) and how you had ended up here to save the planet. You had brought your space gear with you, but lost most of it in ‘the crash’ and now, the helmet was all that remained from space.

The children of Abel had gathered and you overheard some of the adults snickering to themselves at your creativity but it came along well so long as the small ones didn’t ask you to prove any magic stuff.

You were just telling them about how your commander, DeLucali, (once again, all that came to mind was Janine in some Italian Mafia getup) had asked you hide among the humans to see how their life was like, when the dinnerbell rang. You feel a rumble in your stomach and realize that you haven’t actually eaten for quite the while.

“Oh… Well, even us space-people have to eat.” Jody interrupts the story with a smile and lifts the saucepan off her head. “And so should you, humans!” At the dramatic addition, the children giggle.

She looks over them all suddenly with a serious expression. “I will give you our last space helmet so that you can one day flyyyy to space and visit our planet! But you just have to promise us…” She leans in close and lowers her voice, while the kids look incredibly intrigued. “..You must never tell anyone what we’ve told you, okay? Here on Earth, we are just Runner 4 and Runner 5. Got it?” Several heads bob up and down eagerly and one does the ‘cross my heart’ motion over her little chest.

“Good!” Jody beams again and puts the saucepan on the boy who addressed you first. He smiles so widely that you think his face might just split. “Now, goodbye, humans!”

 

At dinner, you hear several of the runners giggling and it’s not until Simon casually asks ‘is it rude to ask to pass the salt on Newi Cantoni, Apollo 5?’ that you realize that most of them probably saw or overheard the little show – and if not, rumors have spread. Laughter burst out at the table and you would throw the salt at him if it wasn’t so valuable.

 

The next runs are interesting. Sam continuingly refers to you as ‘Apollo 5’ and it seems to be catching on. Although he does mention that, out of his window, he can see the children still playing astronauts with the saucepan and adds that Janine hasn’t even noticed that it didn’t get to the Tequila Shack.

He thinks it’s funny until you begin referring to him as Houston whenever there is a problem.


	2. The paint and the paintbrush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [No spoilers!  
> Feat. mysterious pranksters who are also nerds, an emergency run and an interesting morning routine!  
> For notes, "Clover" is referring to Simon's nickname to Jody. :D Hope you enjoy!]

The paint and the paintbrush

 

 

_Janine’s great at many things, but interior design is not one of them. This paint could help add a little brightness to Abel’s current military-grey and eggshell-white colour scheme._

 

_The last batch of paintbrushes got confiscated after some joker painted “Don’t open. Dead inside.” on Janine’s bedroom door. Jack, half-asleep after a 16-hour shift, almost took her head off before he realized his mistake._

 

 

 

“Come _on_ , Janine! It’s not like we’re insulting your painting skills, it’s just that we finally have actual _paint_ and everything’s a bit… Grey and sullen and it’s scientifically proven that colors help! …Probably.”

It wasn’t that Sam was an enthusiastic color expert nor painter before or after the apocalypse, although he does have a point. Janine likes things neat and sharp-edge clean, which includes the colors of the walls. Unfortunately, that makes it look a tad… Boring with no other colors and an already rainy England.

“Mr. Yao, I _refuse_ to have the comms shack painted bright pink!”

Unfortunately, she has a point too.

 

This whole debate came of the run you had just been on, a simple supply run where there had been a bit of dusty rain but everything had gone according to plan. You’d crossed by a hardware store where, obviously, most of the items were broken and if not that, they were already far gone. In a dusty, locked storage room with a single zombie inside (going by his outfit, a customer with a passion for woodwork – thank god that in his state, he didn’t know how to use the carving knives in his pocket), you found buckets of paint which wasn’t really a necessity, but there was barely anything else worth saving. And since Sam, not Janine, was supervising the run, he told you to take what you could carry of paint and brushes in the hopes that the Township could get a splash of color.

It was heavier than it looked, so it surely _felt_ like a long run back but you did get a bunch of smaller, different buckets of paint and a large batch of brushes.

You only just returned with your recent loot when Janine found you and Sam had to try and explain why you had brought back paint, of all things, hence this discussion.

 

Sam smiles sheepishly, looking a little nervous almost, while Janine taps her foot like a strict parent, staring him down disapprovingly. “These runs are supposed to be for crucial supplies!”

“Looking at the current interior design, I’d say paint might _be_ a crucial supply...” You hum, apparently a little too loudly as Janine turns her eyes to you. It’s not the first time you’ve been on the receiving end of Janine’s scrutinizing gaze, but you forget the discomfort that come with it. “Runner 5, the runners have just as much responsibility as the operators to gauge whether the supplies are worthy of being brought back. We will not lose runners because you insisted to bring back _paint_!”

To be fair, Janine is probably the main reason this whole place hasn’t gone totally to hell yet and that _is_ due to her ability to be strict but you’re likely not the only person who thinks she could loosen up a bit. The only times she appears like a more or less normal person is during Demons and Darkness, and even then, she is strategic like an officer and a hardcore rule-follower (and if not, no one else will ever know).

“You didn’t lose me though.” You argue with a shrug. After running with zombies for a while, one comes to realize that Janine being mad isn’t the worst thing that can happen, so you’re not nearly as afraid of her as others (aka Sam).

“No, but we could have. Able runners are not easy to come by.”

“Eh.” That’s true, but when you’re here anyways, might as well make some use of it, right?

Janine huffs, clearly dissatisfied. “I have other matters to attend to of a higher importance than paint buckets. Be sure to move them to the storage room as soon as possible so that no one falls over them.” She turns on her heel and leaves without another word, to which you and Sam exchange a glance, he rolls his eyes and you snort to yourself. Still no need to be _that_ strict.

 

You stay with Sam for a while, chatting because he is still technically on shift, until Jack and Eugene comes by to overtake. You leave your headset on the rack but as always, keep your belt with the noisemaker and keep the runner number on. You always do. Before leaving, you grab onto the paint buckets to bring them to the storage room and head off with a greeting at the radio pair.

“Oh, Five, hang on!” Sam burst out when you’re practically at the door to the storage room halfway across the township. He puts down his buckets and taps the pockets of his orange hoodie and next the slightly too dirty denim jeans before then sighing in dramatic exasperation. “I forgot my dice for Demons and Darkness tonight! Can you just take the paint the last bit of way? I’ll just see you at dinner in a bit.” He smiles sheepishly and pleadingly and you laugh at how much he cares about these things. It’s kind of comforting, because the world seems normal again when people act that way.

“Sure. I’ll see you there.” You carried them all the way from the store in the first place – You can bring them to the storage room easily. As Sam leaves, you open the door and start to carry them inside at your own pace. The only thing you have to reach anyways is dinner.

 

_“Runners 5 and 7, report to the gates for emergency decoy run, repeat, runners 5 and 7 to the gates for emergency decoy run.”_

 

You lift your head immediately. Speakers have been installed all over Abel before you arrived at some point, as a form of alert system – If the gate is breached, if there’s any danger to be aware of, or for an immediate call to citizens; most often runners.

Even though it sounds dramatic with Janine’s cool voice calling an ‘emergency decoy run’, it is not something new or even that unlikely. Runners go on supply runs all the time and sometimes, your pack is too full (or, although _that_ was highly unlikely, a survivor or more was found) and the zoms are too fast so if it can be spared, some extra people will be sent out to draw them off.

Just because it’s not new doesn’t mean you don’t have to hurry though. You shut the door to the storage room as per reflex and set into a fast jog to the gates. A guard is already waiting there with a headset and you see Evan settling his on his head just as you arrive.

_“Five, Seven, Sara is awaiting you in the field. Southeast. They are not too close, but she is carrying much-needed electronic supplies.”_

It’s Janine, as if you didn’t know that already and in your quiet-as-always fashion, you throw a thumbs up (knowing that she can see it from the comms shack), exchange a glance with Evan, flick on the noisemakers and listen to the blaring of the gates as they open. There’s no need to listen to the shots fired above your heads as you run out – You know they are not hostile.

 

Not a hard run but certainly eventful. One too many zombie-dodging later (it’s always you ending up here and you can’t help but wonder if the rest of the apocalypse will be like this – Obviously hoping that it won’t as that stuff get tiring eventually) and you are finally returning to the gate.

Sara returned fairly early but to shake the zoms you had gathered on her behalf, you had to double back around the forest (by the way, not exactly a small forest) only to gather a new group of the living dead. Runner 7 helped you shake those only for you to have to split again to not draw any more to you. Although, all things considered, you _did_ find a tennis racket (without a hole in it!) on the ground – Sam and Jody would be excited about that.

 

You return to the township in good shape still, met with Sara and Evan who both give you a silent, greeting smile. Unless there’s a long time between, runners wait for each other to go to dinner after a mission. You jog to hand in the headset and join them to get a much belated meal that has been saved for you.

She claims a lot, Janine and whoever else responsible for different facilities and perhaps it sometimes feels like you’re taken for granted, but you never are. Runners are some of the most respected people in the township at this point and you are some of the lucky ones to get hot showers and a bit of extra food where it can be spared, because you are the ones who risk your lives daily. Your strength, in the end, is what most of Abel depends on, so even when belated, you never return to a cold or miniscule meal.

 

After dinner (broth with some self-grown vegetables, credits to Jack and Eugene’s experimental hipster veggie garden), Evan heads off to do whatever he is doing as Head of Runners – Probably giving a delayed report on the mission for the day – and you follow Sara to the Runners Barracks.

Yea, the runners have their own barracks. It’s not so much out of a high-school situation like ‘I wanna sleep with my friends’ as it is just for sheer convenience. It is easier to call four runners to attention at the same time when they are at the same spot, and since you’re all used to both early morning and late night runs, no one complains about a bit of shuffling when they’re asleep. And besides, you have a good sense of community among you – When risking your lives together, that has a tendency of happening.

It’s not a huge barrack or anything, but a single, old bunk-bed and some make-shift mattresses with old sleeping bags or half-way torn blankets, and you make it work. At this point in life, having any sort of comfort to yourself is a luxury anyways.

Some of the runners stay up and chat, like they do, but you know that you have an early supply run tomorrow so you hit the sack.

 

Without alarm clocks being a priority, they are not seen as a necessity, so everyone who has meeting hours depend on their own body clock and each other to make it to anything on time. Unless it’s an emergency, it’s not that crucial to be exactly on time, but as runners, there’s a certain pride to being up, warm and ready on the clock. You know that Janine appreciates it and being on her good side is all anyone can hope for.

So, you get up before the sun, change into the good ol’ running outfit (your day-to-day outfit – Thank god the set you got a hold of was one of the comfortable ones) before sneaking out of the barracks and to the training grounds.

It might be the apocalypse, but you’re not savages. A warm-up is needed if time allows it. Better spend a bit of extra time than tear something and be unable to run for weeks. _That_ Janine does not appreciate.

You stretch to start your ordinary routine and begins a light jog around the grounds. Daylight is starting to peek through and you catch a glimpse of sunlight through the clouds.

 

Now, as a runner, you are practically a piece of the sentient defense system of the township, both within it and when you are out on the go. Fast, physically strong, smart, good at improvising – Whether those skills come in a combination of people or if one person has them, they must be there to keep yourself and others alive.

It also means that you have all learnt to keep all senses aware of anything out of the ordinary. To an almost ridiculous degree, you are tuned in to the groaning, guttery and gangly noises of a zombie, you see anything that _might_ contain a can of conserved sausages and can detect a used battery from a new one in a split second. And, you’ve learnt to distinguish between all types of human screams; Fear, pain, anger, desperation, mourning, even the rare occasion of glee (that last one usually happens within the township).

And that’s exactly why you can turn your body so fast, instinctually, when you hear a yell, much too close and much too loud in what you recognize as angry surprise, followed by a shocked one in response. You set into a run and when another one, more a scream than a tell and this time probably closer to terror, possibly pain, you are able to locate it to Janine’s house – which is sort of concerning.

Out the corner of your eye, you see another figure running in the same direction – Runner 8, Sara. You don’t know if she had a run scheduled or if she’s just up doing her mysterious business as usual and then happened to hear this too.

 

You reach the door first and barge into the hallway with Sara right behind you. “Janine!” She calls and you both run down the hall following what could appear like sounds of struggling.

 

It can hardly be described as a likely situation you are meet with when you round the corner and yet thank the gods that you show up.

“Janine, my God, you’re gonna kill him!”

It’s not a zombie or a robber or anything similar that Janine is holding in a strong grip against the wall, one hand holding the figure’s arm in a lock and the other pressed up against his neck. His, well as you can tell now, Jack’s face is almost turning from red to blue and the sounds he’s making are not human. A hammer is at his feet; one he probably came here to return.

You are pretty sure that it’s Janine’s reflexes that’s causing her to hold the poor radio host in a deadly grip because as soon as Sara leaps to her to get her to let go, she does it herself almost immediately as if waking up from a weird trance. You on the other hand, stand by Jack’s side immediately, catching the startled ginger before he falls (or runs away screaming).

It was probably more for Jack than Janine who is thankful for you and Sara’s intervention.

Janine coughs sheepishly, blinking and straightening her back. “Mister Holden, what on _earth are you doing!?_ ”

“I-uh, I-I didn’t see that.. I mean, I didn’t notice that it was _you_ and not a _zom—_ n-not that you look like a zom, but I just thought—“ He staggers over his words to respond, speaking fast and staring at Janine as if he has already accepted his fate.

He looks tired, you notice, aside from the nearly-killed-by-Janine-Deluca thing.

“I can assure you that there are _no zombies_ in Abel Township, mister Holden. You can be lucky that it was _me_ you attacked – Anyone else could have gotten killed with that hammer!” Janine looks furious and Jack looks to defeated that it’s almost funny.

“I-I’m sorry, Janine!” He whines, throwing his hands in the air in surrender and thus forcing you to stand a step back to not get smacked in the face. “I’ve barely slept, I had the night shift!” He tried to explain himself and you exchange a look with Sara. “Even though I appreciate your nerd reference, maybe it’s not the smartest decoration to have on your door!”

“My _door?_ Mister Holden, how _dare_ you indicate that—“

“Janine have you actually looked at your door?” Sara interrupts her before she goes into a frenzy of curse-words and sends poor Jack into the wilderness to die.

 

That’s when you see it. You turn your head and sure enough, on Janine’s bedroom door are big, bold letters in red paint (your nerd self cannot help but mentally remark that the original was black, not red): “Don’t open. Dead inside.”

Or, as some read it back before day 0, “Don’t dead. Open inside.”

You have to bite your lip so damn hard to not laugh out loud at whoever thought it was funny to write that on Janine’s door.

You _would_ laugh, if you didn’t value your life and didn’t consider the fact that you didn’t bring all the paint into the storage room in the rush yesterday. Whoever the prankster, they had probably found it there.

Whoops.

 

Janine turns to look at said door, and her face almost becomes as red as the paint.

Thank god no one else is nearby, because her profanities are for no one to hear.

 

As a punishment for nearly taking her head off, Jack is forced to scrub the paint off since the prankster wasn’t found. No one would openly say that they did such a thing.

It is only later, after asking the most obvious option Simon, that you discover who was responsible for that. “No,” Simon had said in earnest, adding that although it was not him, he wished he had been that clever, before humming in clear amusement, “It wasn’t me, but Clover told me that she saw Sam and Maxi take the paint.”

You smile and don’t tell Janine, but flash the two a knowing smile during the next game of Demons and Darkness. They just smile back.


	3. The Thermos flash and the Overcoat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [No spoilers for this chapter - Finally having some time to write again, although exams will come up soon for me! Hopefully I'll have time to update some more after the fact!  
> A winter run, feat. some necessary drama (because some runs are calm and nice, but some still become more intense than one would like), a rock-hard beyoncé (you'll see), Simon being Simon, and Janine having a soft spot for her runners after all.  
> Enjoy!]

Thermos flask

 

_Keeps hot things hot and cold things cold. How it works is a mystery. We’re just glad it does. A favorite of Runners’, because sometimes when you’re 10 kilometers or more from Abel’s gates all you really want is a nice hot cup of tea._

 

Overcoat

_It’s waterproof, warm and not too badly bloodstained. It’s perfect._

 

“I just don’t think it’s fair that my _whole_ childhood in Britain it snowed maybe, what, twice? And now, when it’s the bloody _end of the world_ , there is enough to build castles! Like, snow castles!”

“ _You_ think it’s unfair? You don’t have the 10K supply-run morning shift tomorrow!”

You nod in solemn agreement with Sara as she throws Sam an almost judging glare over the small grill slash makeshift fireplace. He just scoffs. “Well, it’s still cold in the comms shack, alright!”

 

It’s late November and for the first time in years, probably, there’s _snow_ in _Britain_. A lot of it. Even inside Abel, where there’s been an active effort to keep some pathways clear, the snow reaches the ankles in most places. Given that it’s, again, Britain, that’s a lot.

It has a few perks, because it’s very easy to get relatively clean water from the snow, a resource which is always necessary and it has never been easier to make a cooling pack for a sprained knee or come up with weird ways to make icecream-ish treats. However, of course, with resources being sparse these days, it’s troublesome because of a lack of heating facilities and warm soups to help you along the way.

That’s why supply runs for items that were not previously completely necessary, like blankets, gloves and rolls of yarn have become very crucial. Solar cells too, except those are heavy and it’s limited how much sun will show up.

That’s what you’re doing tomorrow morning, with Sara and Simon, Runners 8 and 3, respectively. Janine insisted on sending three runners because of the weather and in the hopes that there’s a part on the outskirts of one of the bigger towns where few people, if any, has been yet. At least Abel has yet to send explorers to that area. That also makes it mildly risky because you’re not really sure of what to find there.

You’ve been in Abel for a little while now and although the air is still sometimes a little tense between you and Sara (she has made clear that she still doesn’t completely trust you – but all things considered, you appreciate her honesty as you’re not sure you trust you either), you like her overall. She has a morbid sense of humor but you can follow it and she is certainly a strong character in the field and at base. You can tell why Janine seems like her.

As for Simon, you’ve had a few runs with him and from what you can tell, the guy is certainly one hell of a runner – previous fitness freak, he’s explained himself, which makes sense. Your standard, mildly narcissistic, inappropriate high-school jock who inevitably appears in every chick-flick movie. He’s nice though, as soon as you get past the odd first impression… Actually, it’s a lasting impression, but it gets better the longer you go.

 

Your attention returns to the conversation at hand just as Chris and -speak of the devil- Simon sits down next to you on the floor. Jody is sitting on her bed, knitting away (before the apocalypse, some considered knitting lame – now, it’s perhaps one of the most appreciated skills) while Evan is laying on his mattress, not asleep but not really in the conversation.  
Cameo, Yang and Kytan are god-knows where. You’ve only spoken to this clique in passing before anyways, so it’s not like their absence concerns you.

It appears that Sam and Jody are now eagerly sharing winter memories from their childhood, few of which contain much snow, however Simon _does_ pitch in that he’d love to make a snow-zombie, arguing that that’s certainly ‘more realistic in this day and age’.

You smile. You are one of the newcomers here, but this kind of community is probably why the world hasn’t gone completely to hell. The winter doesn’t seem so bad when you can sit around an old grill with a bit of coal on it, huddled but comfortable while discussing the safety in pranking Janine DeLuca.

“What about you, Five? We don’t know much of your past. Any fun memories to share?” Sara is addressing you and you turn to her. She smiles at you, not in an unsettling way but what looks like genuine interest. Sam raises his brows encouragingly.

The company is watching you with interest and you feel flustered, a little bad since you have to disappoint them with the fact that you don’t have that many interesting things to tell about winter memories. The same as all; Building snowmen when there was finally snow for it, begging for hot cocoa once getting inside, getting one’s tongue stuck to metal poles. The standard.

They do laugh at that last remark, though.

 

You don’t chat much longer before heading to bed along with Sam, Sara and Simon, as it is probably wise. The four of you have the morning shift tomorrow, with Janine joining Sam as operators. It can be afforded – There are not that many runs in this weather and three are being sent out simultaneously anyways. As you fall asleep, it is to the last quiet conversing of Chris and Jody discussing about some crazy manor-house murder adventure (you’ll have to ask what that’s all about sometime) from before you arrived. *

 

You are roused by Simon the following morning. “Out of the feathers, Five!” He groans, stretching his back while Sara is getting dressed in the warmest clothes available. “Don’t wanna be late for this. Janine _might_ turn us into living popsicles if we are.” He grins and reaches for a slightly too big thermal shirt. It’s Evan’s, originally – But in the apocalypse, there are few qualms about sharing, especially within the runner’s community. The runners who are not going out today offers to let you borrow what they have (especially in not-too-ideal conditions like these amounts of snow).

You get up and do the same. You already have a scarf; your own. Well, it used to be the old Runner 5’s, the others have told you. Jody knitted it for her. You were told to take it to ‘keep it in the family’ so to say – You don’t really have time to be superstitious in the apocalypse, but most of you like to believe that carrying on a belonging from the previous runner of the same number (if there is one) means carrying a bit of their wisdom and skill with you. Alice Dempsey. You obviously never knew her, but have heard good things; You have her backpack too.

There’s bound to be some good in that – Honoring the former carriers of your number.

 

A couple of layers of clothing, extra socks, scarves and mismatching gloves later, and you are ready to head to the comms shack to be briefed. Often this would be done just by the gates, but, again… Snow.

 

“Good morning Runners.” Janine greets you while looking over her notes and Sam is fetching the headsets.

“Speak for yourself, you’re not going outside.” Simon grins sweetly when Janine throws a look at him before continuing without giving his remark a second thought.

“You’re going to the south-west part of the city and following the main road out to a suburban area that we think -and hope- has been left more or less alone by raiders.” She explains to you, pointing on the old map laying on the table. That’s the methods you’ve got to use now – No more GPS, at least not out in the field. Unless Sam counts as a living one.

“It was largely impossible to reach the area due to zombie activity, but according to Runner 10’s research, they are slower in the cold because they do not have efficient blood circulation to keep them warm. We’re going to use that to our advantage.”

“Yea, just make sure to not step on any frozen zombies. Although if you see Captain America, give me a call, will you?” Sam brings you each a headset and you give him a thumbs up and a grin in confirmation.

Janine keeps talking but as he hands you your headset and checks that it works, Sam shuffles and shoves something in your backpack from an angle where Janine can’t see it. You raise a brow at him questioningly and he just winks before returning to his chair, as Janine sends you to the gates.

 

 

It takes a little getting used to the extra effort you have to put into your steps with the snow, but the three of you fall into a rhythm. There is no danger, and when this is the case and there’s quite a distance to cover, Sam flicks on the radio for you to listen to, so there’s less dead air. He -or you- can always bring back the connection if it’s necessary. Jack and Eugene are on some spiel about the Christmas Special coming up in December (a good kind of distraction from all the awful things happening) and you run in silence.

You remember then that Sam shoved something into your backpack and shift it to your front to take a look while you are running.

“Watcha lookin’ at, Five?” Simon asks, trying to peer into your pack.

“Sam put something in there before we left, but didn’t tell me what it was.” You respond honestly before feeling something warm against your fingers and frowning, pulling up the cylinder-shaped object.

Then, you grin.

“A thermos flask!” Sara laughs. “How typical of our Sam to sneak us one so we can have a nice cuppa while on the go.”

“Five, long toss!” You aim over Sara’s head to throw the flask to Simon, who catches it effortlessly. He unscrews the lid just a bit and sniffs at it. “Yea, it’s tea. I would’ve preferred coffee, but this’ll do!” He admits, screwing it tightly again just as the music stops in your ears and Janine’s voice comes through.

She is not fond of giving tea out liberally for some reason, especially if Sam hasn’t asked permission first, so Simon cleverly stuffs the flask in his bag before she can notice the flask through the cams.

_“Runners, you are approaching the city. Do you see the main road?”_

“Positive, Janine. We’re heading right for it from the north-east.” Sara confirms.

_“Good. Watch out for fallen debris under the snow and keep me updated on any stores or houses that look like they could hold anything of value for future runs.”_

“Affirmative.”

 

 

You reach the area Janine was aiming for without falling too many times on the slippery asphalt (as nobody is generous enough to salt the roads these days). A wide field with a forest at the horizon is to your left and to your right there are more houses. Behind you, the hauntingly silent city once buzzing is towering and ahead, houses, some sort of small mall that might hold a few stores. After that it joins the stretching field of nothing.

“ _Alright guys, we have a lot of ground to cover so we’re going to split you up.”_ Sam instructs in your earpiece. “ _Five, Three, you guys head straight ahead for that mall-like building. It’s so far out that it’s the most likely to not have been already searched. Janine will instruct Eight, I’ll cover for you guys._ ”

“Great, so we’re stuck with you?” Simon asks, exaggerating annoyance and winking at you, while you branch off from Sara with a small wave.

 _“Watch yourself, Simon, I could lead you right into a swarm if I wanted to._ ”

“You don’t, though, do you Sammy?”

 _“Let’s see. Go straight ahead – There door there might be locked, but I think you can kick it in. It doesn’t look like it would’ve held up well even before the apocalypse.”_ Sam remarks and you must agree – The door is made of wood, but it looks thin and the lock is rusty.

“Step back Five! Wouldn’t want to accidentally kick ya.” You heed his warning and step back as he kicks the door with all his might. It takes a few tries but he succeeds – A loud snap and the hinges fly off, Simon almost falling right into the building from his own kicking force and the now lacking door.

“ _Heyy, good job. Guess that running really does pay off. Now, I have partial cams in there. Not all of them are working, so I can’t see everything but it should be enough. There are some zoms in the room with the.. Red? Bordeaux? Whatever, the red-ish door. I count 5… No, 4, sorry, that last one was just a mannequin in really long knickers.”_

You roll your eyes but make a mental note of that as you and Simon split up to go check out the stores. You find the grocery store, department, whichever is more appropriate and Janine must’ve been right in her estimations. There’s still some useful things remaining on these shelves.

Immediately, you start taking anything of remote value and shoving it into your backpack. Food, tools (you even find a bunch of batteries still in the packet!), only briefly checking if it’s really worth saving. Wouldn’t be fun returning with a full backpack, of which only half was useful.

“Sam, do we need anything spec—“

_BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP_

The shrill, incredibly loud whining noise takes you by surprise and you yell out, hearing a responding yelp of surprise in your headset.

“ _What the hell is that noise!?”_

“You tell me!” You snap at the operator, looking around you erratically. “I think it might be an alarm of some sort!”

“ _Whatever it is, it’s way too loud! Guys, you have to leave. This will attract zoms from the whole area!”_

“Crap—Oh to hell with it!” You cuss and run to the shelves, scrambling to shove anything into your pack, no longer checking what it is. You’ve come this far, you sure as hell are not leaving with a practically empty backpack.

“ _Mr. Yao, what is going on!?_ ” Janine’s voice sounds slightly distant, as if she is leaning over Sam’s shoulder.

 _“Uh, I think—Urgh, I’m not sure, I think the alarm must have been activated when the door was kicked in! No one has been here since the beginning of the apocalypse, I suppose. First time that’s been a bad thing._ ”

You hear Janine instructing Simon to do something and Sam returns his focus to you.

“ _Five you have to leave, now. There are a group of probably 20-something zoms moving towards you from the suburbs and more will join them any second. Janine’s getting Simon out through a back entrance, you’ll have to rendezvous with him later.”_

“Just buy me a second or two – There are networking cables and all sorts of spare parts here, I’m trying to grab whatever I can!”

“ _No, Five, no amounts of tech is worth risking an strong runner for! You_ have _to go!”_ He urges you anxiously and you groan, grabbing a set of cables and ripping it off the rack, which then in returns falls with a clank. You suppose that bit of noise won’t really make a difference.

“ _Go to the western hallway and follow it to the end, there’s a big window. You’ll have to kick through it_.” Sam tells you and you listen to him this time, sprinting down and while doing so, you bend to grab a piece of debris (some sort of brick). You can tell that the zoms are close, very close, you can hear them so you throw the brick as hard as you can as soon as you are close enough to the window, buying yourself some precious moments as it shatters the glass before you get there.

Using your, thankfully gloved, hands, you knock the rest of the glass out of your way and jump for your life, only narrowly avoiding a grey, grabbing hand.

 

Before Sam even tells you to, you take a sharp left turn and start heading out towards the fields because you can tell that there are less zoms there – obviously, they all clustered and came from the city.

_“You’re out from the noise, but a few has noticed you and they’re on your tail. Three’s closing on your position, just keep heading for that treeline.”_

You do. That’s why trust between the operator and runners is crucial and probably why Sam was a fantastic one despite his sometimes distracted and not-that-serious attitude to the missions. Runners often have no choice but to blindly trust their operator because of visual impair in the scenery or simply because zombies can appear out of nowhere and a way out might be slim.

Without that trust, no one could last in the field.

 

You keep running in a straight line as Sam reassures you that the zoms are falling behind. You are still carrying cables in your hand and your backpack bounce heavily on your back.

“ _Just, uh, keep heading in that direction Five, I just need to guide Simon for a sec. A few from your tail’s focusing on him now._ ”

You hum in confirmation but slow your pace a tad, listening as Sam patches you in to his and Simon’s headset so you can follow the situation. That you do, watching the trees ahead as a fixed point, your destination. You’ll stop a bit before you get there, just in case zombies are hiding in them.

You breathe out, a white puff of air in front of you and snow crunching under your feet. Clanking of the cans in your bag, a crack under your feet, the vague groans of the undead…

One of those doesn’t belong there and you ironically realize that you don’t even mean the zombies. You slow your step with a frown. You look at your feet as they move in the snow. Nope, just snow.

Crack.

You look around you, ensuring that there are no zombies immediately near you before coming to a full stop. The snow still reaches your ankles and you look behind you at the steps you’ve created, licking your lips anxiously. You’ve learnt to trust your gut; and your gut is telling you to be careful.

At least, hopefully, you’re interpreting that right.

 

“Sam?”

“ _Listen, Three, I know you like to show off but, like, how ‘bout not right now? I don’t care that you can lift that Beyoncé statue. No—“_

_“C’mon, Sammy, she’s a beaut! I personally think that Janine would love to have her in the back yard! … Urgh, she is heavier than she looked on TV though.”_

_“Simon, she’s a rock. And, by the way, you still have zoms behind you! Although it feels like blasphemy to say it, Beyoncé isn’t that important!”_

_“Well, that’s where you’re wrong…”_

 

Precariously, when you don’t receive an answer, you shrug off one strap of the backpack from your shoulder. You have a suspicion of what’s going on and if it is as you fear, the backpack is a danger.

You take a step back but stiffen at the creaking noise that follows it and you are hesitant to let your weight rest on your foot. But what are your choices?

“Sam? Do you have a second?”

“ _Oh, sorry, Five. Jay Z here was trying to play smart. He’ll be within sight of you in a few seconds, Runner 8 is not too far behind. She’s out of the city.”_

“Do you, uh…” You try to distribute your weight to both feet evenly and shudder as the ground crackle again. “Do we have any geographical info on this are?”

“ _Geographical info?_ ” He sounds puzzled and you hear a shuffle of papers. “ _Not really, but I have some cams if that count?”_

“That’s not really my concern—“ You try to back one more step the way you came and hear nothing, breathing out in relief. “Three, maybe you shouldn’t go too clo—“

Your sentence is cut off by a crack that almost sickens you to the bone and it is probably more of a reflex at this point to swing the backpack with all your might, off your shoulder so that it flies far into the snow (all resources are valuable, some more than the life of a person) to save it. The cables, too, fly out of your hands and scatter on the snow. You then take a step because of the force of the throw, hear Simon yell in surprise (it is to be minded that all of this happens within a split second) and then it feels like the world goes black and you feel only _cold_.

 

 

“ _Sam! Five fell through the ground!”_

 _“Oh my God! Five! Simon, can you see anything!? Janine—Janine, something’s happened to Five!_ ”

 

That’s what you hear first and you don’t know if you passed out of if the world was just dark and quiet for a second – but the moment you come to your senses, you want to gasp for air except that you can’t, you only inhale _cold_ – no wait, it’s water, you realize – Ice cold water.

The bodily response is to panic. The mental response is also to panic.

 

You can still hear in your headset, though it’s only vague noise and not really coherent words, mostly because you can’t get yourself to listen to it.

You’re quite convinced that you’re dying.

 

“ _Runner 5, you fell through the ice. Runner 3 is within visual range but he cannot find you – If you can hear this, get to the surface._ ”

Janine.

_“You have 10 minutes of movement before your limbs are too cold to function. Calm your breathing. Look for the light of the hole you fell through.”_

Right. Act first, panic later.

It’s hell trying to coordinate yourself to look around, even more so to actually get your body to _move_. Calm breathing. Well, not breathing exactly, just not inhaling the water. 10 minutes. 10 minutes is plenty of time. You have plenty of time.

Up. Light, the hole you went through.

_“Three, I’m patched in. I’m coming up from your 11 o’clock. Any sight of Five?”_

Found it.

_“I still can’t see ‘em..!”_

_“Don’t go too close, Simon, we can’t see where the ice borders to ground!”_

Now move. Your limbs resist it and you struggle, feeling your lungs burning from either the cold or lack of air or both.

 “ _Mr. Yao, get Runner 8 to location and get Dr. Myers!_ ”

Flailing around like this hardly qualifies as swimming but you try. Your vision is flickering and you’re starting to doubt if you’re even moving in the right direction, that maybe down is up and the light you see is what all those dying refer to as ‘the light’—

 

Except it’s not. Your hand blindly fumbles and then it touches something solid and cold (ice) and you feel wind making everything seem colder but it’s _air_ and you kick one more time and dig your nails into the icy surface and then you break the water and snap, unable to help a sharp wheeze when air is free to rush into your lungs.

Everything sticks to you and it feels like it’s all weighing you down but you can breathe and that’s a start.

_“Oh! I see them! Eight to your, eh, 9 o’clock?”_

_“Got it. I see them. Janine, we’ve got visual._ ”

You hear them this time, more clearly. You can still hear erratic breathing, which is most likely your own – or maybe it’s Sam, at the very least you are pretty sure that you hear him muttering ‘oh God’ all over.

You realize that only a few seconds must have passed - Why you take the time to think this is beyond you, but you weren’t actually as far under as you thought. Your head just dipped under shortly, but the cold stole your breath away and made it seem a lot longer than it was.

“Five!”

Someone yells your name, not in the headset but a little while ahead of you – Sara. You see Simon too, they both wave at you but you can see them regardless, as their clothes are brighter than the snow.

There’s rustling, this time inside the headset. A door slams and by this point, your breathing is still fast but not as panicked – Although you can feel your body shaking almost uncontrollably as you grasp the ice to just stay above water. And mind you, ice is slippery.

Running footsteps, Janine commenting something and a dismissing hum before a soothingly familiar voice reaches you.

“ _Five, it’s Maxine. Are you still with us? Sara, Simon, are they above the water?”_

There’s a confirmation from both of them (you assume Janine or Sam has patched Sara to your headset – you can hear her too, you realize.

“I-I’m hanging on to the ice.” You rasp, surprised at how shaky your voice is and how long it takes to say that sentence alone.

“ _Alright, listen to me,_ ” It’s still Maxine, the American accent is impossible to confuse, _“You have a couple of minutes left still before your body is completely hypothermic. Sam and Janine are trying to get Simon and Sara to you._ ” She explains as calm as ever and somehow, it reassures you. “ _You still with me?”_

“Yes.”

“ _Good. I need you to try and kick your legs as much as you can to get horizontal in the water – like if you’re swimming. Can you do that?”_

Your mouth won’t cooperate enough for you to make a coherent answer.

_“Five?”_

“…I can t-try.” It did this time.

“ _Good._ ”

 

You really do try but what Janine said makes more sense – Your muscles are almost too stiff to move and it’s much harder than you thought it to be. Given that you’re a runner, it should not be _this_ hard.

You get part of the way and groan with the effort – In the distance, you can see Sara cautiously moving, step by step and you can now think enough despite a frozen head to figure out that they’re trying to determine the safety of the ice, and where it starts.

“D-Dr. Meyers, I c-can’t get.. Further than this—“ You try to haul one more time but the ice makes a crack and you slide back a bit.

“ _It’s Maxine, Five, not Dr. Meyers, we’ve been over that_. _If you can, try and roll onto the ice but don’t stand up. If you can’t, keep kicking to avoid losing feeling. Simon might have found a safe way across.”_

You don’t answer. You are starting to feel numb rather than cold and would really rather just conserve your energy so you just try your best to not break the ice and not slide further back.

 

It takes a while. Maxine tries to keep you alert, she keeps talking to you and it’s comforting if nothing else. Sam pitches in with what sounds like an anxious laugh, telling you that he promises to lend you his warmest sweater when you return – And that that Captain America joke wasn’t supposed to become this.

You get out after a little while. The primary effort for you is to stay above the surface without further breaking the ice and it is fine that it does not extend much beyond that, because the cold is nearly paralyzing. It’s Simon who manages to get to you first (sorta) and Sara joins, but keeps her distance - no need to tempt fate by putting two people on the ice at the same time.

They find a rope in Sara’s backpack and tie a loop like a lasso, tossing it to you and you manage to maneuver it around your waist and grab on to it with your hands. They are stiff and numb but it’s better than nothing, at least you can still control them.

Lying flat on his stomach, Simon pulls at the rope while Sara waits where you assume the lake starts. You notice that she has your backpack. Her face is relatively blank, hard-to-read, but there’s a crease between her eyebrows and her mouth is tugging downwards ever so slightly.

There are still voices in your headset, but you’re not even making the effort to listen anymore. The sounds of familiar voices are comforting nonetheless.

 

When you are close enough, Simon grabs your arm and tugs you the rest of the way with a slight groan. You vaguely remember, from a time forgotten, before the end of everything you knew, that a teacher had explained weight distribution by walking on eggs. “You have to distribute the weight as evenly as possible and then they are strong enough to withstand a human.” He had said and demonstrated, standing on the eggs. “But if you tilt your foot to put all your weight on one small spot,” he changed the position of his foot and leaned, “they break.” The eggshells cracked under the pressure and his foot was sticky with the white and the yolk.

It’s not the most relevant memory to suddenly bring back, since you’re already nearly off the ice and Simon clearly knows what he’s doing, not standing up, but pulling himself -and you- on his stomach towards the edge of the ice. You just can’t help but think it strange, the way that the premises of fun physics experiments have come to be crucial.

 

You allow the voices to tune back in. You can’t hear Janine anymore, but whether it’s because she’s left or because she’s just sitting in silence, you don’t know. You must be close enough to the edge of the ice now, because Sara steps out and grabs one of your arms, pulling you onto the snow and Simon gets onto his knees. His clothes are covered in snow, and so are yours. It’s cold.

“ _Get Five out of those wet clothes.”_ It’s Maxine again. Her words seem counter-productive for the situation, undressing in the snow, but she explains, “ _It’s just gonna amplify the cold and make it worse. Do you have anything dry with you?”_

“I found a coat in one of the warehouses.” Sara is already digging into her backpack and she pulls out a hideous, oversized lime-green overcoat.

You’re still on the ground, closing your eyes for a second and breathing out. You’re calming down, still cold but you suppose you’ve tried worse, really. The zombie apocalypse has a tendency of putting things into perspective.

You’re still shaking but you aren’t snapping for breath anymore. That’s bound to be a good start.

Simon sits you up and unwraps your scarf, tossing it into the snow and starts to unzip and pull off your jacket and sweater. “Sorry, Five,” He smiles crookedly, “never thought this was gonna be how I undressed you!” He winks and you laugh despite yourself. You haven’t known him for very long, but his innuendos are familiar to you by now and they lighten the mood a bit. You can tell that he looks more anxious than usual, though.

 

A few minutes later and you’re wrapped in Sara’s (actually, Jody’s) scarf, a mildly bloodstained, green jacket (“Green is really not your color, Five”) and wearing Simon’s mismatched socks. Since no one found pants anywhere, you had to compromise. Simon (very willingly, too willingly) stripped off his (well, Evan’s) thermal pants from under his actual running pants. There’s nothing to do about the shoes. They are, after all, still a better alternative than going barefoot.

 

“ _Uh, I hate to be ‘that guy’ but you’re going to have to start moving soon.”_ Sam finally pitches in, while Sara is rubbing your arms vigorously to create some friction heat. “ _It’s gonna get dark soon and you don’t want to be trapped all the way out there when the zoms start coming out.”_

“We’re, what, 13 kilometers out form Abel, Sam. I’m not sure we can make it back, not with Five like this, at least not if we want all of our supplies with us.”

You feel a pang of guilt. No one wants to be the burden and it feels all the worse because you’re the newcomer. You should have been more precarious. “I’m--“

“ _If you’re about to finish that sentence with ‘fine’, I’d advise against it._ ” Maxine sounds stern and you don’t say anything else, “ _Sara’s right, it’s risky and difficult enough just with the weather. Running will warm up your body, but running in the snow might make it worse.”_

“What’s our alternatives?” Simon is picking up the remaining supplies after stuffing your wet clothes into the backpack.

“ _Well.. You could go back to the city…_ ” Sam is speaking slowly as if he is evaluating his own words as they are leaving his mouth, and he doesn’t sound too happy with the idea. Janine’s voice tune in to your headsets.

“ _There is a cot near the edge of the forest, according to some intel from allies-“_

_“What? Which allies?”_

_“That’s irrelevant, Mr. Yao. It should be relatively safe for the night, if no one has raided it yet.”_

So you run.

 

 

You found the cot. Whoever Janine’s allies were had been right although as expected, it was no luxury. Well-hidden in the woods, small and looking like a long-abandoned shack, not even zombies took interest to it. Inside was, well, better-looking than the outside but not especially great. There’s an old mattress and two blankets (technically, only one blanket because the other one looks more like an old tablecloth, but its close enough), a small desk and a small, stone fireplace. Better yet, hidden away in the corner, a little bit of dry firewood and a few matches.

You decide to risk a small fire to keep warm and you agree to stay overnight. Back in Abel, they have partial cams of the area - hopefully enough to keep track of any movement. And if not, you’ve got axes. And probably a gun, knowing Sara Smith.

 

You settle down, curling up under the blankets with a sigh. You’re still cold, but it’s beginning to help. All of you are still wearing your headsets but no one is talking to you (it’s dinner time, so only Janine is in the comms room while the others are getting food, and she says nothing), Simon is warming his hands and Sara is checking through your supplies.

“…Sorry.” You murmur at last, guiltily breaking the silence. Simon looks at you, Sara doesn’t spare the glance, even though she is the one who answers. “There’s no need to be. It could have been any of us.” She says, nonchalant, as if barely anything had happened. “Given the situation, I am impressed that you managed to save the supplies. Batteries, cables.. If this stuff had gone under, it would have been useless.”

She is right, and at least it does make you feel a little better. You don’t say anything, though.

Simon lets out a longing huff. “Ah, what I wouldn’t give for a warm dinner…” As he says this, it’s like a realization hits you both at the same time and you make eye-contact. He smiles, wide, lets out a laugh and stuffs his hand into his backpack, rummaging and hauling out a cylinder-shaped, dented flash. “Tea! I know that Sam’s not here, but bless him, for once. Never thought I’d be that happy to smell slightly-too-old Earl Grey!”

Sara joins you by the fire. The tea is barely retaining any heat by now, but holding the thermos over the small flames helps and you take sips in turns.

If nothing else, it becomes a good bonding opportunity for the three of you. Simon bets you that he _could_ swim across that lake if he really tried and you agree, betting half a chocolate bar _if_ he does it in the winter. He demands half a chocolate bar for that and you tell him that you’ll consider it. Sara claims that she could beat Simon in a race, on land, in the air (what exactly she means by this is unknown still) and in the water - You offer the chocolate bar to whoever wins all three categories someday.

Sam refuses to go to sleep that whole night. He stays with you, accompanied by Janine for an hour or so after dinner, and Maxine for about half the night. It’s a good night, despite the conditions that brought it. You feel warmer, even after the fire dies.

You know that Janine overheard that you had the tea, and that Sam gave it to you. She must have decided against remarking upon it though, for whatever reason.

Interestingly, as it turns out, it becomes a habit for Sam to slip the thermos flash into yours, or other runners, backpacks when you go for an especially long run. Janine sees this too, but she still never comments on it. And before a particularly hard run that same winter, when Sam did not have the early morning operator shift, you still find the thermos, warm, in your backpack when you leave.

Go figure.

 

 

 

*Reference to the ZR audiobook “The Way of All Flesh” – Can be found on Audible!


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